pentagon acquisition reform

Mackenzie Eaglen and Rick Berger write: To avoid saddling the next administration with an inadequate number of available carriers, the secretary of the Navy and secretary of defense should request waiver authority to skip shock trials on the Ford and put the ball back in Congress’ court. This model of deferred shock trials has worked in the past, and the risks of overusing an undersized carrier fleet loom large over the next five years. – War on the Rocks

The Adversary the Marine Corps Must FightThe Marine Corps must train for the environment it expects to face going forward, which means a near-peer adversary with a capable air force, a savvy web presence, the ability to leverage unmanned systems, and cyber and electronic warfare capabilities, the commandant said today. – USNI News

How the Marine Corps Expeditionary Mindset Still Dominates in DeploymentIt’s not unusual that the MEU and ARG, which together train before the deployment to operate as a single unit, split up once in theater to the point where the three ships might not even see each other for months. So does it make sense to continue that MEU/ARG construct? Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Corps, says yes. – Defense News

At a time when war with China is talked about as a future possibility, the deputy director for air and cyberspace operations at Pacific Air Forces gave a rare look at how advanced fifth-generation aircraft — the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II among them — could lead the air campaign in a conflict in the region. – Stars and StripesThe Air Force is considering not one, but two replacements for the aging A-10 Warthog close air support plane. But analysts wonder why, given that the service is already building a new bomber (the B-21), a new tanker (the KC-46), a new fighter (the F-35A), they would want to build two Close Air Support aircraft in an era when trillion dollar deficits are once again on the horizon? – Breaking DefenseFirst flown in the 1970s, the Air Force could potentially fly the aging F-15 Eagle into the 2040s, according to a top Air Force official in charge of fighters and bombers. – Dayton Daily NewsThe Navy plans to have an operational ship-launched HELLFIRE missile on its Littoral Combat Ship by next year, giving the vessel an opportunity to better destroy approaching enemy attacks --such as swarms of attacking small boats -- at farther ranges than its existing deck-mounted guns are able to fire. – Scout Warrior

ReformJohn Noonan writes: With the defense bill nearly complete, Congress has a small window to correct the administration's reductions. If not, and we continue hacking away at our missile defense options, we will have left both our homeland and our allies more vulnerable to attack. A course correction is needed. – The Weekly Standard BlogPeter Huessy writes: Greater uncertainty over America’s deterrent modernization plans could have the effect of further unnerving our allies and emboldening our adversaries. Every year we delay refurbishing our nuclear forces, we significantly add to the cost of doing “nothing” which ironically will cost more than doing “something”. – Real Clear Defense

As Israeli and US officials head into another, possibly final round of talks over a new 10-year military aid package, a general in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reserves told Defense News his country would be far better off – and the US-Israel partnership stronger over time – if Israel found a way to wean itself off of US largess. – Defense News

DARPA and Defense Department labs are developing breakthrough technology as part of the Pentagon’s Third Offset Strategy. A central theme is autonomous artificial intelligence — operating both in real-world robots and in cyberspace — but there is also promising work in hypersonic missiles, 3-D printing, and other areas. There’s just one problem: time. – Breaking Defense

The Air Force’s growing shortage of fighter pilots is a “quiet crisis that will almost certainly get worse before it gets better,” the service’s new chief and its top civilian leader said in an opinion piece published Thursday. But how bad is it? According to data obtained by The Washington Post, the number of fighter pilots in the service has fallen five years straight, and plummeted in the last two despite increasing need. – Washington Post’s CheckpointThe Air Force’s newest multi-role fighter, the F-35 Lightning II, could deploy to Iraq and Syria very soon if called upon and will be sent around the world before too long, said Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the head of Air Combat Command. – Military TimesThe Air Force Reserve has been pulling out all the stops to retain the best and the brightest and to keep its end strength of 69,000 airmen. – Military TimesThe US Navy is stretching the lives of some of its submarines, if only by a year or two. In the latest version of the 30-year fleet shipbuilding plan, submitted to Congress July 9, the Navy juggled the schedule for ships it plans to dispose of in the next five years. The number of ships planned for inactivation in 2017 dropped from 10 to six, and four submarines gained a modest lease on life. – Defense News

The Navy released its 30-year shipbuilding plan to supplement the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request, which continues the service’s request to put its remaining cruisers into a phased modernization plan and notes the requirement for 52 small surface combatants despite Defense Secretary Ash Carter curtailing the program at 40 Littoral Combat Ships and frigates. – USNI NewsThe Navy is aggressively seeking to increase the size of its F/A-18 fleet, extend the current service life of existing aircraft and integrate a series of new technologies to better enable the carrier-launched fighter to track and destroy enemy targets, service officials said. – Scout WarriorThe U.S. Marine Corps is months away from conducting crucial at-sea tests with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that will zero in on the aircraft’s ability to operate from a ship and the logistics of maintenance underway. – DOD BuzzThe USS Gerald R. Ford -- the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier and the costliest U.S. warship at $12.9 billion -- won’t be delivered until at least November, more than two years late. - BloombergThe US Air Force is reportedly mulling the idea of using its new T-X jet trainer as an aggressor aircraft and even as a replacement for its A-10 Warthog aircraft, it emerged at the Farnborough air show Tuesday. – Defense News

The Air Force's top secret stealth drone, the RQ-170 Sentinel, may have just been spotted on social media. Defense Tech reports that a YouTube video shot in Nevada appears to show the batwing-shaped drone flying against a desert horizon. The aircraft, once dubbed "the Beast of Kandahar” for its surreptitious appearance in Afghanistan, has been used for highly classified missions, such as spying on Iran's nuclear program and surveilling Osama Bin Laden's residence in advance of the raid that killed the al Qaeda leader.

Technology

A company out of Ann Arbor, Michigan is using some spider-man technology to craft a stronger line of body armor and the Army is taking an interest, Defense One reports. Kraig Biocraft has been working on Dragon Silk, a fiber based on spider silk. Spider silk, it turns out, is incredibly strong but difficult to harvest in bulk. Kraig Biocraft managed to sidestep the problem by genetically engineering silkworms to produce spider silk, allowing them to weave it into a bullet-resistant fabric that holds the promise of being more flexible than the kevlar material currently used in body armor.

China, Russia, and rogue states like Iran are investing in advanced missile technology that will threaten the United States. The Obama administration’s defense policy has lagged in the field of missile deterrence, according to a new study from the Hudson Institute prepared with input from former officials and military leaders. – Washington Free Beacon

IsraelIsraeli industry is bracing for lost funding and layoffs as a result of a proposed $38 billion, 10-year US military aid package that rescinds Israel’s ability to convert a significant portion of US grant dollars into shekels for local research, development and procurement. – Defense NewsAn unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from Syria managed Sunday to penetrate Israeli airspace and evade two Patriot anti-air interceptors and possibly an F-16-launched air-to-air missile, sources here said. – Defense News

Last week, the Navy was experimenting with brain-hacked, bomb-sniffing locusts. This week, the Naval Research Lab is talking up its robotic squirrel project. The Navy is building on its research making robotic pack mules to design a smaller, quieter quadrupedal robo-vermin that can scout ahead of troops for reconnaissance and sniff out bombs.

The Israeli Navy’s “ultimate answer” to the Russian Yakhont anti-ship sea-skimming cruise missile has been validated in India for land-based air defenders, according to India’s Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the prime contractor for the joint program known here as Barak-8. – Defense News